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W. S. DUVALL.

BOX FASTENER- APPLICATION man mm: 21. 1919.

1,319,517. Patented 001. 21,1919.

INVENTOR.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM S. DUVALL, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO F. B. WILLIAMS 00., OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

BOX-FASTENER.

Specification of Letters iPatent.

Patented Oct. 21, 1919.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM S. DUVALL, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented new and useful Improvements in Box-Fasteners, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in box-fasteners employed to lock and enseal the lids of crates and such boxes as are generally employed for transporting bottles, &c., and to that particular class of such fasteners as comprise an engaged element embodying a catch secured to the lid of the crate or box, and an engaging element se cured to the inside of the box and embodying a latch formed of spring-wire a length of which is doubled upon itself and secured to an attaching-plate, such, for instance, as is disclosed in the United States Patent No. 97 6,025, granted November 15th, 1910, to Charles W. Beehler, and in other prior patents disclosing similar constructions.

The improvements relate exclusively to the engaging element above referred to and consist in the means for securing the lower terminals or ends of the spring-wire latch to the attaching-plate and in the peculiar and novel formation given the ends of said latch whereby to form suitable bearing-portions for the latch to prevent it turning upon its axis and permit of its yielding movement in engaging and disengaging from the catch. 7

Referring to the drawing Figure l is a central vertical sectional view on the line 11 of Fig. 3, the engaged element or catch being shown in section and added thereto, the two elements being illustrated in engaged position,

Fig. 2 is a detail in plan of the engaged element or catch;

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view of. the engaged element taken on the line 33 of Fi 2" Fig. 4 is a front elevation of the engaging element in detail; 7

Fig. 5 is a detail in front elevation of the spring-wire latch as it appears before mounting'in the attaching-plate;

Fig. 6 is a detail in plan of the attachingplate upon which the spring-wlre latch 1s mounted; I

Fig. 7 is a similar view to Fig. lllus- 'trating one of the means of attaching the spring-wire latch in position upon the attaching-plate, the upper end of the plate and that ofthe latch being broken away, and

Fig. 8 is a side elevation of the springwire latch and its attaching-plate, the upper portions of these two elements being broken away.

Similar numerals of reference indicate similar parts in all the figures of the draw- 111g.

The engaged element-which embodies a catch-in connection with which I have illustrated my improvements, is of the well known conventional style, forms'no part of my invention, and for it any other suitable style embodying a catch may be substituted. However, the engaged element shown is largely used among manufacturers, and for that reason, is shown.

The engaged element-in this instance is formed of a rectangular plate 1, at the four corners of which are provided screw-receiving holes 2, through which latter screws may be passed for securing the plate upon the lid of the box. At its center the plate has formed a semicircular opening 3 corresponding to a hole formed in the box-lid, the metal removed for forming the opening in the plate being bent downwardly and rearwardly to form a latch-deflecting plate 4,

above which occurs a transverse shoulder forming a catch 5. At one side the edge of the plate is bent upward, as at 6, to form a convenient place for the hand to engage in raising the lid, and near its opposite edge the metal of the plate is slit, as at 7 and the metal lying between the slit and the edge of the plate is upwardly bent, as at 8, to form a seal-wire loop or eye. The engaged element thus formed, it will be understood, is applied and secured to'the upper side of the box-lid, a hole being formed in the lid as before stated to correspond with the opening 3 of the plate and to receive the depending inclined latch-deflecting plate 4c.

The engaging-member, as before stated, comprehends a substantially rectangular attaching-plate 9, and the construction of this plate may be considerably varied as to details. In this instance, I have shown two constructions, one being illustrated in Figs. 1, 4 and 6 of the drawing, and the remaining in Fig.7.

Referring to the first three figures above mentioned it will be seen that the blank wardly disposed from which the plate is formed has punched from its center an irregular opening 10, the opposite edges of which, at the'lower end of the opening, are formed with inwardly disposed preferably inclined ears or lugs 11, in which are formed opposite transversely disposed elongated alinin g openings 12, that extend laterally a short distance into the plate, as shown. A short distance below its upper edge, the plate 9 is bent outwardly at a right angle to the remainder of the plate and upon a transverse line the upper art of the opening 10, thus forming a con ning or limiting-loop 13, (best shown in Fig. 3). Immediately below the loop, 13, the edges of the opening 10 of the plate are provided with inlugs 14, which, prior to the application of the spring-wire latch, hereinafter referred to, are bent rearwardly from and at an angle to the plate, thus leaving the upper end of the opening 10 of the plate open for the purpose of facilitating the application of said latch.

The latch 15, is formed of a suitable length of spring-wire of proper gage, being bent upon itself at its center, to form at its upper end the loop or eye 16, designed .to recelve the sealing-wire (not shown).

Bending the wire-blank, as described, produces opposite terminals 17 17 and such are abruptly bent or doubled back immediately below the eye 16, to form the inclined head 18, through the opening 3 of the catch-plate 1, and below said head, the engaging or latching-shoulder 19, for engaging the shoulder 5 of the plate 1. At a point below the shoulder 19 of the spring-wire latch, the terminals are slightly and gradually curved rearward, passed through the confining or limiting-loop 13, and finally terminate in laterally disposed ends 20, preferably at right angles to the terminals 17 and have their ends flattened, as at 21, for the purpose of forming widened bearings designed to lie snugly against the face of the plate 9 upon which the latch is mounted.

In applying the latch to the plate 9, the terminals 17 of the former are pressed together and the latch disposed at an angle to the back of the plate. WVhile the parts are in this position, the flattened ends 20 of the latch are brought opposite the elongated openings 12 of the plate 9, and the terminals relieved of pressure and permitted to expand. By reason of the elongation of the openings 12, the flattened ends of the terminals will pass through the openings. The upper or free end of the latch is then swung forward into the opening 10 of the plate, past the lugs 14, and into the confiningloop 13, after which the lugs 14.- are bent into the same plane as the plate, so that the loop 13 is closed and the latch confined and designed to project upwardly secured upon the plate. When the springlatch is swung into the opening of the plate, the flattened ends 20 will yield and permit the flattened extremities 21 to assume a position in the same plane as the outer face of the plate and against which said flattened ends will become impinged and therefore re sist any'further axial movement of the latch.

When thus constructed, the operation of the device is as usual in this type of latches or locks, and being wellknown, requires no detail description. The sealing-wire, it will be understood, passes through the loop 8 and the eye' 16 of the latch, the ends of the wire being sealed in the usual manner.

It will be seen that the ends of the terminals of the spring latch being formed as shown, may be negligible in length, obviating the usual angular formation heretofore considered desirable and necessary in order to prevent axial movement upon the part of the latch and therefore insuring only the desirable spring-like operation thereto. The omission in the latch terminals of the angular formation referred to, permits of the employment of less wire in forming the latch itself, and, what is of more importance, permits of the use of a shorter attaching-plate9, in that the latter is not required to be made long to accommodate the longer angular formation of terminals employed and soas to bring the screwreceiving openings below the ends of such angular formation of the terminals, all of which tends to reduce the cost of manufacture of the article as a whole as wellas to permit of its use in confined spaces not possible at the present time.

Referring to Fig. 7 of the drawing, it will be seen that I greatly simplify the construction of the plate 9, by omitting the opening 10, lugs 11, and elongated {openings 12,

. heretofore described. I, however, retain the limiting or confining-loop 13, or employ some equivalent means for limiting the movement of the latch. As a substitute for the parts omitted, I punch opposing pairs of tongues 22, at each side of the longitudinal center of the plate 9, near the lower end of the latter. When the latch is applied to the plate, these tongues stand outwardly at an angle to the plate, and after the terminals are released, the tongues are subjected to sufficient pressure or impact to close them upon the flattened extremities 21 of the latch, so that the latter are held immovably clamped against the face'of the plate, as will be obvious. If preferred, the tongues may be bent'against the flattened ends only suflicient to confine them in position and yet ermit ofa slight turning movement within the confines of thetongue, but 1 prefer to clamp the tongues snugly in position, as is practically true of the construction first described. The resultant advantages in either construction described will be practically the same.

Having described my inventiomwhat I claim, is: V

1. In a box-fastener, the combination with a latch-carrying plate, of a latch formed of a length of spring-wire bent upon itself to produce opposite companion terminals, said terminals, a short distance from their ends, being laterally disposed in opposite directions and having flattened portions forming flaring bearing-ends impinging upon the plate, and means for confining said flaring bearing-ends against the face of said plate.

2. In a box-fastener, the combination with a latch-carrying plate, of a latch formed of a length of spring-wire bent upon itself to produce opposite companion terminals, said terminals, a short distance from Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the their ends, being outwardly disposed in opposite directions and havingflattened portions forming flaring bearingcnds impinging upon the plate, and means carried by the plate for confining said flaring bearing-ends against the face of said plate.

8. In a box-fastener, the combination with a latch-carrying plate, provided with opposite elongated openings, of a latch formed of a length of spring-wire bent upon WILLIAM S. DUVALL.

"Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

